Conversations in the Hospital Wing
by hpkiwi
Summary: Two years, two people. One location. The morning after Cedric's Death and the return of Voldemort, Ginny decides to visit Harry in order to have a helpful, comforting chat. Events have a habit of repeating themselves, and a similar situation unfolds after Sirius' death. Rated T for a couple of moderate swearwords (Ginny is after all Ron's sister!)
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: I know this sort of violates canon a little, given that Rowling states Harry only properly talked to Hagrid, Ron and Hermione afterwards, but just roll with it. I'm planning on a second chapter in Order of the Phoenix after Sirius' death._

 ** _Chapter 1: The Morning after Cedric's Death_**

She shouldn't have been here. That much she knew.

Ginny Weasley was, yet again, pacing outside the entrance to the Hospital Wing, plucking up the courage to enter. Just like it had been during her first year, when she felt she had no choice but to apologise. Even though her apologies fell on deaf ears at the time, it had still been worth it, not least as a means of figuring out what had happened. Unbidden, up came suppressed memories of the pipes, the slime, the frozen look of pure horror on each of their faces…..

Just like that on the corpse of Cedric Diggory the previous evening.

 _Shut up. You never killed anyone, and you never attacked anyone either. That was Voldemort._

She was now almost fourteen. She could do this.

Suppressing the worm of guilt writhing in her gut at leaving Michael so early during breakfast without telling him what she was doing, Ginny knocked twice. Madam Pomfrey, looking harried as per usual, opened the door.

"Miss Weasley," she sighed. "I know who you want to speak to, but the Headmaster specifically said no visits." She sniffed, and Ginny noticed her puffy, slightly bloodshot eyes. "Never before has a student died on my watch, Miss Weasley, and I can't imagine what that poor boy has been through. No-one can."

"Actually…." began Ginny in a small voice that felt far too timid but also far too mature for her. "I might. But maybe I'm wrong." Yet again, the adults as well as her favourite bushy-haired friend and her own dimwitted brother had neglected to remember exactly who had faced Tom Riddle for a whole year, and it plainly infuriated her. Sighing in resignation, she turned away, but a familiar voice laced with fatigue then called out.

"Who's that, Madam Pomfrey?"

"Ginny Weasley," the Matron replied.

"Let her in," Harry called back.

Madam Pomfrey coughed and Ginny turned around to face her. "Five minutes," she said sternly.

Ginny nodded her thanks as she was let into the Hospital Wing. Today, the weather seemed to be deliberately mocking the mourning, shell-shocked inhabitants of Hogwarts Castle. A light breeze, not a cloud in sight, and perfect conditions for Quidditch. The rising sun bathed a pleasant golden glow on the ward, all the beds perfectly made up with crisp, clean sheets, save for one that had the privacy curtains drawn, and the last bed, which was also occupied.

Harry was idly playing with his breakfast on a tray, refusing to look up. Nodding vaguely in Ginny's direction, he mumbled a greeting. "Hi Harry," she whispered, subconsciously adopting a quieter voice as though a louder one might shatter Harry's delicate façade.

The greeting made Harry look up. _Absolutely typical_ , Ginny thought, as she examined the boy she once – no longer of course, she was now dating Michael – had a formidable crush on. More scars, cuts and marks. Including a particularly nasty one on his right hand. Harry noticed her nauseated look, and rolled up his sleeve as far as it would go. "I'm not going to go into detail about what happened, Ginny. I've already told Dumbledore, Siri-, I mean, your parents, and of course Ron and Hermione. I don't want to relive yesterday evening again so soon."

"Who did you mistake me for?" Ginny parried crossly as she took a seat by his right side. "Rita Skeeter?" Seeing Harry's glance, she rolled her eyes. "Come on, Harry, I know what that woman wrote about you, as well as Hermione, Dad and Bill. But I'm not here to gawk, believe it or not."

Harry smiled slightly and nodded his head. "Fair point. So what do you want to talk about?"

What indeed to talk about? How Cedric died was off-limits, clearly. She knew courtesy of Professor McGonagall that Amos and his wife would be discussing funeral arrangements with Dumbledore later today. This was like the old days, she knew. Mum and Dad hadn't told her much, but she knew enough, especially with what had happened to Uncles Fabian and Gideon. How many more of these sad, solemn breakfasts would Hogwarts see? As far as she knew, no Hogwarts student had died while at school since Myrtle's murder by the very same Tom Riddle. If there was going to be a war, it was inevitable that more students would meet Cedric's fate. And was she ready? Merlin's beard, no.

"I'm scared," she confessed simply. "We all are." At that, Harry let out a dark, humourless chuckle. "Join the club," he muttered. He sat up a little as he looked Ginny full in the eye. The situation precluded any chance of her blushing, but Ginny felt no shortage of guilt for feeling thankful for that.

"That's why we all need to be ready," he finished. "Even if the Ministry aren't. Fudge, he didn't want to accept it at all."

"So did he come for the Death Eater here?" Ginny queried. Harry shook his head.

"The Death Eater was Barty Crouch's son, in disguise, and he killed his father. The real Moody was kidnapped and locked in a trunk – he's now in that bed just there."

"What?" she cried out loudly. Harry shushed her; the prospect of Madam Pomfrey chucking her out was all too real, not to mention that the convalescent Moody needed his sleep. But this information raised more questions than it answered. How many other supposedly dead people were actually alive?

"Is Crouch back in Azkaban?" she questioned. Harry shook his head.

"I doubt Fudge ever intended on him going back to Azkaban, to be honest. He insisted on a Dementor escort while questioning him, but Crouch was Kissed almost instantly." He swallowed, looking nauseous, and Ginny barely resisted putting an arm out in comfort. How times had changed, she thought wryly.

"I know what those horrible things do to one, Harry," she replied hesitantly. "But Crouch was a monster. He deserved to go." Harry frowned in reply.

"Even if he did, it's too convenient now for the Ministry. They have no first-hand evidence besides me, and according to Fudge, I'm now some nutter who has hallucinations and can speak to snakes. Probably will form the basis of Rita's next column."

At that, Ginny smiled. The previous evening, Hermione had filled her in on the basics of what had happened after she and Ron had returned to Gryffindor Tower. The one consolation though, was that the predatory Prophet reporter wouldn't be bothering anyone dear to them for ages, that much she knew. However, she thought it better for Hermione to spill the beans to Harry – it was after all, she who had been injured by that hate-mail, and her reputation that had been destroyed by that utter cow.

"You know Harry, I think you're wrong," she responded pleasantly, deciding after much deliberation to pat his shoulder. "Because you have friends here and at the Burrow who won't stand for that. You're not alone Harry, and you never will be. Just remember that." Harry stared wistfully out at the grounds visible in the window. It was a look Ginny knew she'd worn too many times, the look of someone who had seen too much, or alternatively had poisonous secrets locked inside them.

"Do you have any regrets?" she asked tentatively. Without waiting for a reply, she ploughed on. "Trust me Harry, I know the look of someone who does."

Harry looked away from her, and in a much more uneven, hesitant voice answered "Yes."

"And?" she demanded. Hermione would tell her she was being rude, tactless, insensitive and about a dozen other negative pushy traits, but in Ginny's experience, tackling these issues head-on was always far less painful.

Harry turned back to her, and she was surprised to see the first glimmer of tears in his eyes. "We got to the Cup at the same time. I could've taken it, Cedric insisted on me taking it, but I couldn't. We'd saved each other's skin, and it was a Hogwarts victory. So I guess, in some small way, it's my fault."

At that, Ginny's anger boiled over. The same tactics had been used on her so effectively, for so long by Tom Riddle, and she was not going to let the Boy Who Lived, of all people, wallow in a cesspool of guilt.

"Hippogriff shit," she snarled, making Harry jump at the ferocity of the reply as well as the expletive. She was, after all, Fred, George and Ron's sister. She drew nearer to him. "Harry, that's how he controls people. Guilt, second-questioning your motives, your morals, your values. Believe me." This was really worthwhile, she thought. The accumulated anger at that hideous man, what he had done to her, to Cedric, to Harry and countless others now had an outlet, and having that dam of emotion burst was so cathartic. So much the better if it was going to help Harry.

The conversation subsequently moved onto lighter subjects, and she noted with relief that Harry was looking slightly perkier. Knocking some sense into him with the sledgehammer technique had clearly worked, although she was still annoyed that so much was effectively off-limits. _One day_ , she thought.

As she made a particularly rude joke about Ron and Viktor Krum that made Harry simultaneously smirk and blush a little (her stomach hit a sudden bout of unexpected turbulence when she spotted this), Madam Pomfrey burst in with a thunderous look on her face.

"That's been fifteen minutes, Miss Weasley. Out!"

With an apologetic grimace, Ginny waved goodbye to Harry, miffed at the shortness of the visit, but pleased beyond her wildest imaginations that she somehow had helped. It was almost as if an affinity now existed between the pair.

Not that that mattered after all. She now had her first boyfriend, and Harry had his own path ahead of him too.

Madam Pomfrey had returned to her desk outside the Hospital Wing when Ginny passed through the doors, and tried to not listen to the pleadings of a certain Fifth Year Ravenclaw.

"There is something I desperately need to talk about, Madam Pomfrey! I understand he needs rest, but ….."

"I'm sorry Miss Chang. Only Potter's friends and staff are allowed in, I'm afraid." At that, Cho Chang turned wide-eyed to the girl passing by her, the pleading look visible in her red-rimmed eyes.

"I can't imagine what you're going through, Cho," Ginny responded in her most sympathetic voice possible. "But it's not a good time for him." Briefly laying a hand on the older girl's shoulder, she felt an unexpected surge of protectiveness for Harry, a totally foreign concept for her. Grieving girlfriend of Cedric she may have been, but absolutely no bloody way was Harry going to be pumped for information on the moment he died. Not if Ginny could help it.

As she walked away, hearing the slight sounds of sobbing from behind her and Madam Pomfrey's vain attempts to comfort Cho, she felt another surge of guilt as something akin to jealousy defeated sympathy. It _wasn't_ jealousy of course, and it didn't mean anything.

 _It didn't mean anything_. The same monotonous statement, no, fact, that she'd been telling herself for two years.

If only someday she could completely believe it.


	2. Chapter 2: After the loss of Sirius

Chapter 2: After the loss of Sirius

 ** _A/N: Please note that I 'borrowed' some lines from some of the HP films in this chapter, partially because I thought they were amusing thrown into a different context. This chapter begins with a flashback, but it ends with Harry conversing with Ginny about a few important matters. The incantation for the Bat Bogey Hex was inspired by the scientific name for the Flying Fox genus - which involve some of the largest bats in the world. All the more painful for Malfoy!_**

 _This, Ginny thought, was_ _ **not**_ _the way the day was supposed to play out._

 _The last day of exams was not supposed to end with her and Luna coming along on a mission to rescue Sirius, in spite of Harry's stubborn objections._

 _It wasn't supposed either to result in herself, Luna, Neville, Ron, Hermione and Harry all in captivity inside Umbridge's Office. Thankfully, the toad had left with Hermione and Harry, but quite exactly what Hermione was planning to do with the 'Headmistress,' she had no idea. Both after all were disarmed, though she had to admire her friend's calm nerves and quick thinking. If it had been her, she'd have probably tried to throttle Umbridge as soon as they were outside – for setting Dementors on Harry, for even thinking to use that vile curse on him, not to mention turning Hogwarts into a prison in all but name._

 _Meanwhile, Harry's Godfather was having his will to resist drained from him slowly, curse by curse, and here they were, absolutely bloody useless._

 _Why did Ginny believe that Harry was correct? The question didn't even enter her mind – he was after all the only reason she and her siblings still had a father. He'd never failed anyone, least of all, herself._

 _She dragged her mind back to the garishly-decorated room, all with those horrible mewling kitten portraits. Their noise had risen to a crescendo before, when Umbridge was about to curse Harry. Only Umbridge could nearly destroy her love of cats._

 _Meanwhile, the preening little ferret in front of her was once again strutting around like he owned the place, casually toying with Harry's wand. At least they were no longer gagged, she thought._

" _-and you, of all people, Longbottom? What did you forget this time? Maybe you thought we didn't have eyes everywhere."_

 _Ginny looked across at Ron, giving him a shrug as he looked questioningly at her. If neither of them knew what Hermione Granger was up to for sure, then she guessed none would._

 _Malfoy had spotted the interaction between herself and her brother._

" _And you two, Weasel and Weaselette-"_

 _Crabbe laughed as he strengthened his hold on Neville again, Millicent Bulstrode tittered and Warrington smirked unpleasantly as he held Ron._

" _What's Potty dragged you into this time? Did he get another little nightmare again? It was quite the scene when he screamed, wasn't it, Crabbe?"_

 _As Crabbe nodded thickly, Malfoy advanced until he was standing nose to nose with Ron, his grey eyes boring into her brother's._

" _So you think your Mudblood sidekick and Potty can outsmart our Headmistress? Not smart, I fear expulsions might be in order…..then again, it might mean you two can start saving up to buy your dream home. Though that might take a century – don't your family sleep in, er, one room?"_

" _Piss off, ferret," Ginny muttered, causing Malfoy to whirl on her as Ron shook with barely suppressed rage._

" _And you, the youngest weasel of them all. Your boyfriend left you here to play hide and seek with the Mudblood?" Ginny gritted her teeth at the mention of Harry, but then laughed in Malfoy's face, causing him to jump back slightly. She tried to put her regret at not being able to let Dean know what she was doing out of her head. Now was not the time…._

" _You jealous or something Malfoy?" she teased, not caring about Ron's raised eyebrows. As Malfoy's face turned to an ugly pink, an airy, mild voice chimed in from the back of the room._

" _Your head must be full of Wrackspurts, Draco. I suggest you read the Quibbler to find a way of curing it…"_

 _Malfoy's lips quivered as the rest of the Inquisitorial Squad snorted with exaggerated laughter._

" _Potty, Loony, Mr. Forgetful, the formerly long-molared Mudblood, Weasel and Potty's future wife. That's what I call a full house of lunatics."_

" _Get bent, Malfoy," her brother barked, causing even Ginny to jump as she herself scowled at the Inquisitorial Squad's leader. Malfoy raised an eyebrow as he advanced again on Ron. He raised a hand._

" _Warrington, get out of the way, please." Malfoy tucked Harry's wand into his outer jacket pocket and curled his right hand into a fist as Warrington loosened his vice like grip._

 _The wand was just inches away from Ginny's fingers…_

 _Malfoy landed a harsh blow to Ron's solar plexus and he crumpled with an 'oomph!' Wheezing, he struggled in vain to get back up. Malfoy casually kicked him, causing him to roll over, spread-eagled._

" _That's how I feel about Blood Traitors."_

 _His attention was solely fixed on Ron. Big mistake. Malfoy failed to notice the silent blow to the ribs Ginny gave her captor. As the other girl seized her in a headlock, Ginny's fingers brushed Harry's wand. Succeeding in gaining a grip the second time around, she poked Harry's wand in-between the girl's ribcage and shouted "STUPEFY!"_

 _She couldn't see the effect her spell had, but she saw the flash of red, felt the sudden total release of her captor's grip and heard the painful impact with Umbridge's desk._

 _Malfoy whirled around as she managed in rapid order to Stun Millicent Bulstrode, who, no longer holding Hermione, had possession of all their wands. Malfoy proceeded to whip his hand into his other pocket, but Ginny was too fast for him._

" _Expelliarmus!" she shouted, and Malfoy was blown backwards to hit the doorway, his wand flying into the air. Ron, who had succeeded in giving Warrington a bloody nose, caught it and without a second's pause threw it out the open window. He then raced for the pile of discarded wands beside Millicent's still form. Grabbing his, he proceeded to Stun Warrington as the latter cast a hex that barely missed Ron's face._

 _Ron then threw Luna's wand back to its rightful owner as she matter-of-factly stomped on her captor's feet, broke free of her grasp, and shot a Full Body Bind curse for good measure. She winced as the Slytherin girl fell to the floor with a disproportionately loud thump._

 _Crabbe had tightened his grip on Neville again, leering unpleasantly as the latter began to turn purple. Ron threw Neville his wand. As Crabbe tightened his grip even further, Neville pointed his wand behind his head and choked "Im- Impedimenta!"_

 _As Crabbe's grip slackened, Neville struggled free, gasping wildly and collapsing to all fours while Ginny put down Harry's wand as she leaned beside her friend._

" _Great job, Neville, really good work."_

" _Yes, quite impressive," said Luna serenely as she also leaned down and patted his elbow. Neville's cheeks reddened slightly as he recovered his balance._

 _There was a scuffling noise from the other side of the room. Malfoy had begun to recover. Ginny in a flash spotted her discarded wand on the floor beside Millicent and dived for it as Malfoy grabbed Warrington's wand and cast a Stunner that flew barely inches above her head. Jumping out from under cover, she aimed directly at Malfoy's face and cast the hex she'd longed to use on him._

" _Pteropus Mucosis!" she shouted, and watched in satisfaction as Malfoy let out a ridiculously high-pitched scream and clawed at his face as large bat-winged bogies began to fly out of his nose and flap around his face, blinding him as he sank to his knees and lashed out blindly at them, whimpering loudly all the while. All the members of Dumbledore's Army watched with fascination as Malfoy finally managed to get to his feet again, bump loudly into the wall (Ron snickered at this), then reach the door, open it, and run away. As he did so, Ginny heard one last yell._

" _My father will hear about this, Weasley! You're a dead woman walking!"_

 _Ginny raised an eyebrow at Ron, who looked a little unnerved at her hexing abilities._

" _Was that…" he began._

" _Bat Bogey Hex," she answered matter-of-factly. "Not only that, but it was_ _flying fox_ _bogies, which are even worse," she finished, certain that a mile-wide grin of satisfaction was plastered all over her features._

 _Luna looked back at the prone form of her captor. "That wasn't very pleasant," she said mildly. "Rather loud, in fact."_

 _Both Ginny and her brother jumped as Crabbe began to recover from his Impediment Jinx, though Ron's rapid Stupefy put paid to that particular oversight. But Neville was transfixed by the view out over the Forest._

" _What's up, Neville?" Ron asked, coming to stare over his right shoulder, Ginny doing the same on his left. Neville wordlessly pointed to an eruption of birds from the top of the Forest canopy as the movement of something large shook the blanket of foliated branches. Just then, a flash of red pierced the darkened interior of the forest. Intuitively, all knew where Harry and Hermione were._

 _They rushed off, making sure that Harry and Hermione's wands were collected. The journey to the Forest felt like it was over in an instant as they heard distant braying and a gigantic roar of pain in the darkness beyond._

" _Come on!" Ron bellowed as he outstripped the rest of the group, face set determinedly with Ginny hot on his tail. The stakes were simply so high, every second counted._

 _To her relief, she spotted a most alarmed-looking Hermione and Harry, small twigs and dirt all over their clothes and hair. To her horror, she noticed pebble-sized spots of blood over Harry's face and shirt. Absolutely bloody typical. The Chamber. The various cuts caused by the Whomping Willow after his and Hermione's late-night antics in Third Year, which she'd finally been told about by Lupin and Sirius. The wound caused by Wormtail's dagger the previous year._

 _She shook herself. There weren't any wounds visible on Harry. This time._

" _He's covered in blood again," she sighed exasperatedly at Ron, whom, she noticed, was anxiously scanning Hermione for presumably any sign of injuries too. "Why is it he's always covered in blood?"_

" _Hmmmm?" Ron replied absent-mindedly, his eyes still scanning Hermione. "Oh – yeah. At least for once it isn't his own." In spite of the grim situation, Ginny chuckled slightly. It was to be the only bit of levity for quite some time._

 _A matter of hours later, they would all be fighting for their lives. Then…..nothing._

… _..Until she came to in the Hospital Wing, a gaunt-faced Ron with bloodshot eyes leaning over her. She heard the news; how Hermione was still not entirely out of danger in the bed opposite her as Madam Pomfrey administered potion after potion to heal the internal injuries caused by Dolohov's curse, how Neville had faced down and even briefly been tortured by the very same madwoman who had robbed him of his parents, how Ron had narrowly avoided strangulation in the Department of Mysteries thanks only to Dumbledore and the Order's timely intervention, and worst of all, how Sirius had died. She dissolved into silent tears, a few apparently also dripping from Ron's nose onto her exposed neck as both siblings clung to each other like limpets to a rock._

 _She wasn't just crying for Sirius, or for concerns about Hermione's safety, she knew. She was also crying because she knew full well what Harry would be feeling like right now. That it was all his fault that so many people had been endangered. Worse though for Harry in the sense that his beloved Godfather had been killed._

 _All for nothing._

June 20, 1996.

Ginny came to in the Hospital Wing, the first glow of the rising Sun casting a brilliant glow on the Lake. Yet again, she mused, a peaceful, beautiful morning marred by tragedy. The one silver lining was her ankle had been fixed in a jiffy, and Dean was going to briefly drop in and see her later today, though she'd already told him to not reveal anything in front of Ron. After another night or two as a precaution, she'd be free to return to Gryffindor Tower.

Ron and Hermione were unfortunately going to remain under watch for much, much longer. She couldn't place what the enchanted brains had done to Ron, but whatever it was, it wasn't pleasant. As for Hermione, she'd thankfully woken around midday the previous day, but of course her ribs and stomach still stung and ached like a hundred Doxies had bitten her. Luna and Neville's beds were absent; they'd presumably been cleared to leave just before she woke up.

She turned to her right and found Harry dozing in a nearby chair, a small vial of Pepperup Potion beside it. Just then, the Boy Who Lived stirred and opened his eyes, yawning widely as he did so. Raising her hand in greeting, she gestured over to a nearer chair for him to sit on.

"Hey," she whispered. "What brings you here?" Harry cleared his throat, swallowed nervously and leaned closer.

"Couldn't sleep very well. After what happened in the Ministry, I needed a reminder that everyone else….." he tailed off, and Ginny knew she didn't need to have Hermione's brain to fill in the missing word _survived._

"How long have you been here?" she asked tentatively.

"Huh?" Harry yawned. "Oh, probably since three." He looked as if he had the burden of the whole world on his shoulders. Then again, being Harry, he probably did. He looked out at the sunrise, clearly afraid to look into her eyes.

"Ginny, I'm so very, very sorry that I got you involved in-"

"Harry?" Ginny interrupted sharply. "Shut up. You've clearly forgotten exactly who insisted on coming over your objections, you bloody stuck up, noble prat."

Harry nodded. It was clear that his mind was far away. "Anyone visited yesterday?" he queried, breaking the long monotonous silence.

"Yes, Dumbledore as well as Mum and Dad stopped by. I told Mum and Dad you were exhausted and needed rest, but you really should've been down here. They'd have talked some sense into you." Harry remained silent, but he shook his head. That got her volatile temper going.

"In case you've forgotten, Harry, it's because of _you_ and that connection – whatever it is, I don't care – with _him_ , that we still have Dad around." Inwardly, she shuddered. Ron and Hermione had asked Dumbledore what had happened to Harry. Beyond briefly stating Voldemort had tried to attack him, Dumbledore had been coy.

As Harry nodded his thanks, looking at her properly, Ginny saw behind the fatigue and grief, a look of…. _what,_ exactly _?_

What had Voldemort done or said to him?

"What did he do? V-Voldemort." It was still difficult saying his name, but Dumbledore tended to be right about most things.

Harry sighed and inhaled with a shudder.

"He tried to possess me. Tried, and failed, I might add." He smiled reassuringly at Ginny as she nodded for him to continue.

"Well, he was fighting Dumbledore, he then…..went inside me, can't really describe it, and taunted Dumbledore to kill me. Then….I dunno, I thought about dying, about seeing Sirius….and he was gone."

"Grief drove him out?" Ginny whispered. Then she remembered the events of her worst year ever. "Then again, guess that fits. Any time I showed affection for anyone in that diary, he always appeared to hate it. And grief after all is just another form of love." She wasn't going to mention, even under pain of death, that the _anyone_ more often than not really meant Harry himself. Then again, Harry probably knew from Tom what she'd written. That said, if he did know, he wasn't indicating it. One more of the things she liked about…

At that, Harry chuckled darkly, interrupting her thoughts.

"You sound like Dumbledore," he sighed, rolling his eyes slightly.

"Stop it," she smiled slightly, playfully hitting him. As they fell silent, the melancholy seemed to wash over Harry again.

She cleared her throat.

"Is there…..anyone you want to talk to about Sirius?" she asked softly. "We're all available if you need us, Harry. Maybe….if you wanted to reach out to Cho or something, I'm sure she'd understand, given last year…"

"That's done," Harry cut across her conclusively. He turned to her again, and Ginny did her best to feel guilty at the fireworks erupting in her chest at this piece of news.

"If I may ask….how did it all, you know…" Harry smiled at her encouragingly, gesturing for her to continue; he was clearly grateful the conversation was steering away from Sirius. The gesture encouraged her to be bolder.

" …end up going tits up?"

"Ginny!" Harry shot back, apparently scandalized at the bluntness of her language. Ginny shrugged.

"So what? You've forgotten again that I'm Fred and George's sister. And Ron's, too."

Harry rolled his eyes again.

"We had two arguments. One was, if you must know, on a date in that disgusting tea shop." Ginny grimaced. She'd briefly visited there with Michael, but she'd laughed him out of the place after thirty seconds and redirected him to Zonko's, then afterwards they'd met up with Colin and Luna at the Three Broomsticks. She wasn't sure she wanted to hear the rest. Then again, if it kept Harry away from thinking about his Godfather, so much the better.

"Go on."

"Well, I mentioned that I'd have to keep the date short because I'd be seeing Hermione afterwards who was with Rita, and…"

Ginny let out a peal of poorly suppressed giggles. Harry looked thunderstruck.

"Sorry," she finally choked, "but that is absolutely ridiculous. She thought you and Hermione were together?"

"Yeah," said Harry, running a hand through his messy-as-ever hair. "Lots of people do, I mean, Krum, Rita Skeeter…."

"But that would be a sight," Ginny chortled. "You and Hermione in front of Rita! As if – that girl's mad. Then again, Harry, it might have been wiser to say something else."

"Yeah, that's what Hermione said," muttered Harry. "Then she asked about Cedric…..if he'd said anything about her before he was, you know, murdered. So here I am, totally helpless as she's just sobbing away. God, what a nightmare it was."

Ginny's stomach turned to acid. What bad form Cho Chang had, she thought. The next time she played Quidditch against her and won was going to be _soooo_ satisfying _._

Then the annoying voice that inhabited her brain piped up again.

 _You're dating Dean, remember?_

 _I don't fancy Harry, I just hate it when other girls emotionally manipulate him!_ She thought fiercely.

 _Really?_

"Anyway, we haven't seen each other since the Marietta thing," she distantly heard Harry finish off bitterly. "She did point out the pressure her friend was under what with her mother working at the Ministry, but that didn't stop you, or Ron, or the Twins with Arthur, did it?

"Damn right," Ginny nodded in affirmation.

"So then she attacked Hermione again, I defended her, and she got jealous and we just sort of split, I guess." There was no denying it now. Harry had turned red as he absent-mindedly rubbed the hairs on the back of his neck. Harry, blushing. _That was a new development around Ginny._

"Thanks for the meeting in the Library earlier on this year," he suddenly blurted out. Giving her a slight smile, he continued.

"Thanks for giving me ideas about breaking into Umbridge's Office to talk to….Lupin. And I guess to Fred and George's distraction techniques. They really paid off didn't they, what with them and their new shop?"

"You gave them the gold, didn't you?" she interrupted, deciding to accept Harry's refusal to mention Sirius by name. Harry nodded. "Didn't want a Knut of it," he replied bitterly. "Not after Cedric. His parents should've got it, but as they refused, what could be better? I've got too much in my account at Gringotts, that I know."

"We're going to it," she piped up. "These holidays. Even Mum wants to take a look, and you've obviously invited." Harry grinned slightly at that thought, and once again, her stomach did a couple of joyful backflips.

 _Yes, a totally normal platonic reaction, right?_

 _Shut up._

Ron stirred ever so slightly, and both Ginny and Harry whipped around as one. Ginny didn't really want her idiot brother to get the wrong idea about her and Harry, after all. Not to mention she hadn't yet told him about her ditching Michael and starting something new with his dorm-mate Dean. Thankfully, Ron turned over and resumed snoring loudly again, allowing the pair to resume their conversation.

So what are your plans?" Harry asked.

"How do you mean?"

"Next few days, I mean."

For some reason, she didn't want to tell Harry about Dean's impending visit. Then again, with Ron there, maybe it should've already been canned fullstop. Having her goofy prat of a brother carted off to Azkaban for murder was hardly going to be a good look.

"Same old same old." She airily waved a hand as the Hospital Wing was bathed in a golden glow.

At that, Harry stood up. She knew she hadn't managed to get through to him entirely. There was something he'd been hiding from her, and she didn't know if he'd ever reveal it to her.

"You off for breakfast?" Ginny queried.

Harry nodded.

"Thanks for the visit, Harry, you know you're more than welcome to see us afterwards, right?"

"Thanks," he replied, a flatness beginning to creep into his voice again. As he turned away, Ginny impulsively grabbed his wrist.

"You know about clouds having a silver lining, right?" Harry looked totally nonplussed, so she ploughed on, ignoring her idiotic pulse beginning to race as she thought back to the conversation she and Harry had in Grimmauld Place while her father was still in St. Mungos.

"If one good thing has come out of this whole episode, it's this: we know you're not dangerous. You'll never be dangerous. Not to us, anyway," she finished. Harry swallowed once, nodded and smiled, a non-forced one as she let go of his wrist.

"Take care Ginny, and thanks." And with that, he was off.

But Ginny knew that something still troubled him, and it wasn't related to him blaming himself or thinking he was dangerous. As it was, the conversation had been like dancing on glass, but at least she hadn't broken it and offended him. But that mystery still bugged her.

She turned to her friends, plus the sleeping Umbridge, and noticed with a shock that Hermione had awoken, and was staring at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Shut up," Ginny whispered back, prompting Hermione to offer a look of faux indignation. "Someone needed to kick some sense into him."

"I agree," Hermione whispered back, attempting to lean forwards only to hiss with pain at the attempt. In an instant, Ginny had whipped out of bed and was leaning beside Hermione.

"Take it easy, Hermione. Besides, I also wondered if you could do me a favour."

"Yes?" she enquired.

"Could you somehow distract my idiot brother when Dean comes to say hello? As long as we don't snog, it should be fairly easy."

"Deal," Hermione grinned.

But for some reason, she wasn't looking forward to seeing Dean again nearly as much as another certain individual.

She mostly managed to push Harry to the back of her head for the next few weeks, save for the time Ron tactlessly tipped his head towards Harry while suggesting she choose someone better on the Hogwarts Express home. Judging from the way a smirk was playing at the corner of her friend's mouth, she'd started slightly when Ron shot Harry a furtive glance.

 _It'll happen to you one day, Hermione Granger,_ she thought. _One day soon._


End file.
